Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1319485
CYCLE NEWS RIDER OF THE YEAR / MOTOAMERICA SUPERBIKE CHAMPION CAMERON BEAUBIER P74 Interview Have you been able to speak with Garrett Gerloff and been able to sort of compare notes and get a read on what you might be up against when you get established over there? Yeah, I talked to him after he rode Valentino Rossi's bike and stuff. I was so pumped for him and it is so cool that he got to do that. Yeah, he's just been kind of adjusting to living over there and all that stuff, but he's doing good. He just came off a really good two-day test at Jerez on the Superbike with Yamaha. I guess getting back to what I was saying about Yamaha and if I did get any offers for 2021, there were talks for me to go over there to race. However, now Yamaha has so many good riders and so much young talent coming up over there right now that it would be kind of tough. It's a little tougher right now to get over there with Yamaha than maybe it was a few years ago, but this deal with Eitan and American Racing popped up and I wanted to jump all over it. That's the dream, to get back into the MotoGP paddock, especially with kind of an American deal with the team and stuff like that and just kind of sees where it takes me. Going back now, in 2021, I kind of know what I need. I didn't have that before and I feel like that's pretty cool. Just look- ing back now, I know what I need to do, and it'll be cool. Just how did the Moto2 deal come together? We were having some talks with Yamaha about getting over there and then my manager Bob Moore mentioned that he was at one of the back-to-back races and told me he had a conversa- tion with Eitan. He said to me, 'I just had a conversation with Eitan and he has some interest in having you come over and ride for his team.' I was like, 'Really?' To be honest, I thought my future over there would be World Super- bike. I saw myself there. I then started thinking about Moto2 and we kept talking, and the deal seemed like it was getting better and better. At the same time, the team found out that Joe Roberts was going to the Italtrans Racing team, and so the deal just kind of came together and we signed the deal at Laguna Seca. Time to go racing now. Still a bit early in the rela- tionship, but what do you think about of the Moto2 bike? It's hard to say. I mean, it's easy to sit here and be like, 'Oh, I'm going to get on this thing and be on pace right away!' It's easy to say that now, but I think it's going to take a little bit of time to get up to speed. I mean those guys are no joke, you know what I KNEW THAT WITH MY BIKE AND HOW I WAS FEELING THAT I WAS GOING TO HAVE A GOOD CHANCE TO JUST CRUSH EVERYTHING." ''